Propeller propulsion means



July 5, 19490 J. J. VAN EATON PROPELLER PROPULSION MEANS 2 Sheets-s t 1 Filed Aug. 10' 1945 lor y 1949- Y J. J. VAN EATON PROPEIJLER 'PROPULS ION MEANS Filed Aug. 10/ 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 v Patented July 5, 1949 UNITED srm'r,as,

6.. Cla ms.- 1

Thepresent invention relates to a. primemover,

such .as a suitable. engine or. motor, and an openel atedito. turn hepropeller inthe s al. Qrrw d iv n dir ctien ..or o rh ame. in. a reverse direction,

or to hiev es lt at siactoril-yt rrvi s t. my a ms icon em ate he d p ip and.

use of novel complemental pulleys, one on the engine drive shaft, and ;the other on thepropel; lereguipped driven shaft, said pulleys V being ro tatedin corresponding directions by a belt trained thereover, and being turned in opposed. or 01),- posite directions by direct friction-drivingcontact with each other, the beltbeing idled at this.

time.

Another object of the invention has to do with the aforementioned prime mover, propellerequipped shaft, pulley assembly, and mechanical manually operated means for supporting and raising and 'lowering the prime mover whereby toirender the pulleys operable to accomplish the aforementionedforwa-rdand reverse driving actions.

Other features and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description and the accompanying illustrativedrawings.

In. the drawings, wherein. like. numerals areemployed to designate like; elemental parts. throu hout the views:

Figure 1 is an assembled view. showing the ragmentaryportionof the boat in sections, the

remaining parts being in; elevation-and disclosing he ruc ural present? invention.

Eigurefi-is anend elevation with certain parts of ctjh c structure-removed:to show the construction and. assemblage: of parts, said- View; observing Figure 1' 111781 direction from right toleit,

Eigure: 3- is a p rspective: view. oi -theeng ne or prime mover supporting and lifting. andilowering unit. for handiregulat-ion.

Figure 4: is. an. enlarged fragmentary section-alview of thedriving-and drivenpulleys.

Figure 5;,is1a reduced; elevational View of-rthe baseunit per. se, that. is, the unitqseenin Figure 3-showing how the: toggle action performs.

Eigure 6 is. a. view of; another type. of; base.

nit; showing a. modified construction, but em.-.

assemblage. constituting the plottin -.1 he sametl itiha nd lowe n a t t princ ple Figur T is an enaieleyation, like Figure 2, but showing-t e stand ;collapsed, prime mover tiltedand driven pulleys frictionally en.-

hgi? gg eilrinfignow; to th;e general assemblage ofparts. as: seen te hest; advantage: in Figure 1, it wi ba-observed that A=designates a fragmentar, pprtion of a,-.su;i,t,ab1e -boat, this having a bearing B for, ashaft 0; provided with a regular propellert-D A; standard Eds providedwith a bearing Etfor the propellenshaft C; The letter G; designates asuitable, engine, motor or equi-, alent-pr me; movet orz po ng the prop ll s S tu 1 diahQY a. n i n H n th bottom oi the boatr These, are. all old partsias the r ter hcei ett r den e- The drive pulley, which is a two-Way forward, and're ers ead; is e ed. y the u lfi, this being onithe drive, shaft I 0. At the outer end it-,is. proyide,d witha V-shapedgroove ll to accommodate asp-called V-belt I2, this being a Y i ion belt, At the inner end itfriction driving; as well as res-having a marginal V-shaped: drive-grip, brought out to advantage in, E-WQ Q.

The-drivenn lleyfi i e d on th propell r orshatt, C} embodies a V -shaped; 11. coastin wi the f r mentioned grooved-1 part ll; to accommodate the: 0611311 2; In this. instance, the annulus or ring omthe pulley 9g, denotedby the numeral. 13a. Etndlitiiis also \for med'with:amarginal v-groove-toaccommodate the V-grip; on the ringortannulus l-tr; Under crdinarycircumstances, the two pulleys; s and Sgaare. spacedv apart, as shown in. Eligura 1-,, and the .helt: I2; coacting with its componentparts H and llaturns the shaft C to drive he nreue le er mov n h boat in a or ward, direction, as, isfcustomary. When, however, it is desired to reverse, theipropeller, the belt l2 svloosened misty-moving, the two pulleys 9 and 9:. toward; each. otherand bringing the rings l3 and. I311:in,fri tionvdriying-or mating contact, as, shown inEig-ureA; Here we have a. direct, frictlonz drive from pulley to pulley, h lt I at this. time. being disengaged; and: momentarily inefiective In. order. to. accomplish the. forward and: re.- versead-justment oft the. pulleys, it is necessary tolprovidameanst for moving same toward and. from eachrothers and-walsoior raisingand lowering, the primeL mover. 01:- engine, G; to accomplish.

this. Various types of jacks and lifting and lowering devices might well be employed to achieve this end. I find, however, that the base units which I have herein disclosed are ample and satisfactory. One such unit is shown in Figure 3, the same being generally denoted by the numeral l4. It comprises a base plate l5 rigidly secured on the foundation H. The plate is provided with marginal parallel longitudinal flanges it having short upstanding lugs IT at corresponding ends and vertically elongated arms til at opposite ends. The plate I5 is the boat base and the companion plate I9 above is the prime mover base. The latter is suitably constructed and bolted to the bottom of the prime mover and is provided at one end with lugs hingedly connected, as at 2|, to the upper ends of the uprights l9. Similar lugs 22 at the opposite ends serve to accommodate the toggle arrangement. This comprises a horizontal rocker shaft 23 mounted for oscillation in bearings in the lugs or ears 11, said rocker shaft being provided with a hand lever 24 at one end. It is also provided with rocker arms 25 which constitute toggle links and which are held adjustably in place by set screws 26 and pivotally connected with companion links 21 hingedly connected to the upper lugs or ears 22. The toggle action is brought out in Figure 5 in which it will be seen that by swinging the lever in the proper direction the base plate I9 is tilted to lower the. motor to an elevation to engage the rib IS with the groove Mo to provide the reversing friction drive between pulleys 9 and 9a. By again righting the motor and plate l9 through the medium of the toggle and lever arrangement, parts [3 and [3a are disengaged and the belt i2 is brought into play to accomplish the regular forward drive for the propeller D.

Another type of adjuster unit for the prime mover is shown in Figure 6, in which it will be seen that the boat base plate is denoted at 28, the motor or prime mover plate at 29, being above the plate 28, and hinged at one end, as at 36, to the uprights 3| on the first plate 28, the latter plate being also provided at its front end with uprights 32 to which the lever 33 pivotally connects. The lever in this instance is provided with a toe or foot 34 which is laterally directed to bear against the free tiltable end of the plate 29. The plate 29 is maintained in normal elevated position by a coiled spring 35 which is interposed between the two plates which surround the bolt 36 anchored on the plate 28, the nut 9? on the bolt serving to adjust the tension of the spring, as is obvious.

In both types of adjusting unit the idea is to have a hand lever for raising and lowering the base plate which is attached to the prime mover so that said prime mover can be raised and lowered to move the pulley arrangement into and out of direct friction-driving contact. The claims are to be interpreted accordingly.

It is understood that in Figure 1 we see the pulleys 9 and 9a arranged so that the belt l2 coacts with the belt receivers I l and Ha to drive the propeller shaft in the usual forward direction. I have not shown the pulleys together, though it is understod that when the plate I9 is lowered to the position seen in Figure 5, the motor or prime mover G goes down and this permits the rib l3 to engage in the rib-receiving groove Ltd, as seen in Figure 4, a fragmentary view which is, evidently, sufiicient to illustrate the change from forward to reverse and vice versa.

A careful consideration of the foregoing description in conjunction with the invention as illustrated in the drawings will enable the reader to obtain a clear understanding and impression of the alleged features of merit and novelty sumcient to clarify the construction of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

Minor changes in shape, size, materials and rearrangement of parts may be resorted to in actual practice so long as no departure is made from the invention as claimed.

I claim:

1. In a structural assemblage of the class described, a boat, a propeller shaft mounted for rotation in relatively fixed bearings on said boat, a propeller keyed on said shaft, a pulley also keyed on said shaft and provided with peripheral individual and selectively usable V-grooved portions, a prime mover including a motion transmitting drive shaft, a second pulley keyed on said drive shaft, said second pulley being provided with a V-groove portion coacting with one of the first-named V-grooved portions, a friction driving belt engageable with the stated v grooved portions of the respective pulleys, said second-named drive pulley also being provided with a friction driving V-rib, said V-rib coacting with the remaining one of the V-grooVed portions of the first-named pulley, said shafts maintaining substantially parallel relationship at all times and said pulleys being bodily shiftable toward and from each other in angular relationship while in a constant plane with each other and while maintaining radial alignment with each other, a normally horizontal elevated plate hingedly mounted at one end on a plane above said propeller shaft, the opposite end of said plate being tiltable toward and from said propeller shaft, said hinged mounting being eccentric to the axis of said first-named pulley, and manually operated mechanical means interposed between the boat and the tiltable end of the plate permitting the plate to be raised and lowered to disengage the two pulleys and to maintain the desired constant plane between the respective pulleys and constant approximate parallelism between the two shafts, said prime mover being mounted on said plate for adjustment in conjunction therewith.

2. In a structural assemblage of the class shown and described, a boat, relatively fixed bearings mounted in said boat, a propeller shaft mounted for rotation in said bearings, a propeller fixed on said shaft, a pulley also fixed on said shaft, a stand comprising a base plate fixedly mounted in a horizontal position in said boat, said base plate having a pair of uprights, a horizontal prime mover supporting plate above the base plate, said prime mover supporting plate being hingedly mounted at one end on the upper ends of said uprights, said hinged mounting being centric to the axis of said pulley, manually regulable adjusting means cooperable with the base and prime mover plates for raising and lowering the tiltable end portion of the prime mover plate, a prime mover attached to and movable in conjunction with said prime mover plate, said prime mover having a shaft substantially parallel to the first-named shaft, a pulley on said prime mover shaft, said pulley being disposed in a vertical plane above the first-named pulley and angularly movable toward and from the firstnamed pulley depending on whether said prime mover plate is in fixed horizontal position or in tilted position, and a friction driving belt trained over said pulley-s.

3. In a structural assemblage of the class described, a boat, a substantially horizontal shaft mounted for rotation in bearings provided in said boat, a driven pulley keyed on said shaft, a vertically disposed prime mover including a substantially horizontal drive shaft substantially parallel to said first shaft, a drive pulley keyed on said drive shaft, said pulleys being normally spaced apart and in alignment with each other, the periphery of the driven pulley having V- grooves, the periphery of the drive pulley having a V-groove and a V-rib adapted to seat in one of the V-grooves in the driven pulley, a drive belt trained over coacting grooves in the respective pulleys, and lifting and lowering means interposed between the boat and bottom of the prime mover and including a tiltable plate tiltable and swingable in a vertical plane toward and from the boat and at right angles to the respective shafts, whereby to keep the two pulleys in constant alignment with each other and to maintain the shafts in substantially constant parallelism at all times, in conjunction with a second plate secured to the boat and including fixed uprights, said first-named plate being mounted on said uprights, and means coacting with corresponding ends of the respective plates for moving the first plate toward and from the second plate.

4. In a structural assemblage of the class described, a boat, a substantially horizontal shaft mounted for rotation in bearings provided in said boat, a driven pulley keyed on said shaft, a vertically disposed prime mover including a substantially horizontal drive shaft substantially parallel to said first shaft, a drive pulley keyed on said drive shaft, said pulleys being normally spaced apart and in alignment with each other, the periphery of the driven pulley having V- grooves, the periphery of the drive pulley having a V-groove and a V-rib adapted to seat in one of the V-grooves in the driven pulley, a drive belt trained over coacting grooves in the respective pulleys, and lifting and lowering means interposed between the boat and bottom of the prime mover and including a tiltable plate tiltable and swingable in a vertical plane toward and from the boat and at right angles to the respective shafts, whereby to keep the two pulleys in constant alignment with each other and to maintain the shafts in substantially constant parallelism at all times, in conjunction with a second plate secured to the boat and including fixed uprights, said first-named plate being mounted on said uprights, and means coacting with corresponding ends of the respective plates for moving the first plate toward and from the second plate including lever controlled toggle means.

5. As a component unit of a structural assemblage of the class shown and described, a prime mover raising and lowering stand comprising a base plate adapted to be fixedly mounted in a horizontal position in a boat, said base plate being provided at one end with a pair of uprights, said base plate being substantially rectangular in plan view, a complemental horizontal prime mover supporting plate rectangular and disposed in superposed parallelism above said base plate and hingedly connected at one end to the upper ends of said uprights, a rocker shaft mounted on said base plate, a lever connected to for operating said shaft, rocker arms secured on said rocker shaft and constituting toggle-links, additional toggle-links pivotally mounted on the free tiltable end of said prime mover plate and pivotally connected with the first named togglelinks.

6. A prime mover supporting and tilting stand comprising a base plate adapted to be mounted in a horizontal position in a boat, said base plate being provided with a pair of uprights, a complemental plate hingedly mounted at one end on the upper ends of said uprights and adapted to support a prime mover, a bolt attached to and rising vertically from said base plate and extending through a complemental aperture in said prime mover supporting plate, a coiled spring surrounding said bolt and interposed between the respective plates and adapted to support the prime mover plate in a normally horizontal plane parallel to said base plate, upright means also mounted on and rising from said base plate, a hand operated lever pivoted on said upright means and being provided with a lateral foot releasably engageable with the tiltable end portion of said prime mover plate for pressing the latter down to an angular position against the tension of the spring.

JOHN J. VAN EATON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 150,480 Peugh May 5, 1874 172,945 Atkinson et al. Feb. 1, 1876 358,899 Strong Mar. 8, 1887 723,333 Story Mar. 24, 1903 1,845,712 Jacques Feb. 16, 1932 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 180,916 Germany Feb. 25, 1907 593,601 Germany March 1934 

